ASLA 2014 Honor Award, Analysis and Planning Category. The Creative Corridor: A Main Street Revitalization for Little Rock by University of Arkansas Community Design Center and Marlon Blackwell Architect. Image: University of Arkansas Community Design Center + Marlon Blackwell Architects

What is missing from this list is “PERMIT transit-oriented development…” Across the country countless planners, landscape architects and developers understand and promote the benefits of denser development, even in smaller cities. We want to do it, but local zoning regulations almost inevitably prohibit such development. Transit-oriented development doesn’t have to be mandated by local government. It has to be permitted by local government.